Memories Awaited
by ReveChanson
Summary: BBS spoiler warning. Riku reflects on his past, before his adventures began. He recalls a forgotten memory, a meeting that unlocked his destiny. Takes place at the end of KH II.


I OWN NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER HEARD OF

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><p>Sora walked along the dock, hands behind his head, keen blue eyes spotting the shine of silver in sunlight. He rounded the bent paopu tree, the older teen hunched in its shadow.<p>

"Riku?" The elder didn't respond, staring intently at the star shaped fruit in his hands. Sora jumped onto the tree, twisting to lie down along the trunk, keeping a concerned eye on his silent friend.

Riku turned the yellow star over in his hands, closing his eyes as he placed it in the sky among a thousand others. When he was younger, the fruit was as close as he d believed he d ever get to the stars. Until the training accident, that was.

He was sparring with Sora as usual, elder leading younger in a smooth series of motions. He was teaching the brunette how to step, how to carry momentum into its own move, showing him the place instinct held in battle. Despite his age of 14, Sora still had the hyperactivity of a four year old. The brunette had his face screwed up in concentration as Riku instructed him through a series of parries, mentally noting the grace that adorned the younger s movements. He was a natural, and despite his taunts, he knew Sora could easily grow to outpace him.

Done with instruction, their fight began. Sora had interrupted him earlier that morning, watching Riku roll onto his back, then jackknife to his feet, a move he d practiced for a month. The brunette had demanded Riku try the move out on him, and the silverette laughed to himself at the determination on the younger s face.

Riku quickly showed Sora how the elder would slash out of his move, ending with a three strike move that involved a spin and ended with a thrust. He showed Sora how to force Riku into backpedaling, how to step to keep his weight forward, but anchored on his back foot to give him leverage. Sora eagerly pounced, their friendly rivalry defined by the splintering crack of wooden swords.

Sora had honestly learned faster than expected; Riku jackknifed, and Sora whirled to the side of him unexpectedly. Riku tried to turn to face his opponent; instead, he landed off balance, stumbling in his step, lurching forward into Sora s would-be horizontal block.

The silverette crumpled to the sand, stunned by the blow to his head. Sora knelt over him, panicking over his actions. The silverette tried to focus, but the face above him morphed wickedly- Riku blinked, but is vision continued to shift. The brunette above him was not the one he knew.

_He had shorter hair, less mocking of the laws of gravity; eyes not childlike, serious with experience and gentle with kindness. He was asking Riku if he could keep a secret. The silver haired youth looked over his shoulder, the memory blurring then focusing on a fussing brunette behind him, eager to leave their play island. He turned back, reaching out and grasping the strange device offered to him._

_The older man recited a rhyme, and Riku decided that the thing must be a weapon. He was told he would become a wielder ._

_His sight blurred again, and he was leaving the island, and the stranger too, a grumpy Sora next to him, complaining to his father about Riku keeping secrets. He let his friend fume, wondering what a key that large could possibly unlock._

_Riku took a shuddering breath, realizing he hadn t been breathing for the duration of the flashback. He couldn t believe he d forgotten._

_No ocean will contain you then Riku sat up, ignoring his pounding headache as he stared across the expanse of water that guided his life. He was forced to turn, Sora looking on the verge of tears in despair. Riku assured the brunette he was fine, and suggested they take the day off, just this once._

_They sat in silence, despite Sora s random outbursts of apologies, the silverette s head spinning from both the injury and the memory. Where had the man come from? Riku had never seen him again, how big could the world be? Surely-_  
><em>Riku breathed in sharply. His concept of the world was limited to the main island. They never received people from other places, no stranger ever taken in- except Kairi. A happy redhead, she was a bit annoying but Riku counted her as a friend. She had appeared one day, as if from another world.<em>

_What if she was? What if there were other worlds, bigger than his now-insignificant islands?_

Riku opened his eyes, jolted out of his thoughts by a concerned hand on his shoulder. He broke off a piece of the fruit, holding it up for the brunette. He knew there was a smile on his friends face as Sora accepted the citrus arm of the star.

There were more worlds out there than he could have thought of, and his heart beat faster as he wondered just how many more there were.

Rapid footsteps approached, and both were on their feet in an instant as a redheaded girl sprinted towards them. Too tired to speak, she handed them a bottle, a marked paper inside. Riku kept his face impassive as he removed the paper, but inside he was grinning, his heart speeding up once again at the promise of new worlds scrawled across the page.


End file.
